Fic: Dogsbody (5/13)

[rusty_armour]

Title: Dogsbody (5/13)
Author: Rusty Armour
Pairing: Lester/Quinn
Summary: Lester is forced to depend on the people around him when he finds himself in a strange and startling predicament.
Word Count: 1,727
Rating: Slash, PG-13
Spoilers: S3 in general
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters or the shiny prehistoric creatures. I just played with them for a while and then returned them to the toy chest.
A/N: I was inspired to write this fic after reading knitekat’s Under the Moonlight, the first story in the Under the Moonlight wolfverse. Although I had intended to post this as a serial, the original plan was to finish the story first, as I swore to myself that I wouldn’t commit another crime of WIP. However, as so often happens, this story ended up being longer and more complicated than I’d imagined. Reality has also been rearing its ugly head and there are other commitments I can’t put off any longer, so…WIP. Well, at least this time, a large portion of the story has already been written, so I think most of the posts should be delivered in a timely fashion.

This is a sequel to Ps & Qs and Better Late Than Never, though this could probably be read as a stand-alone. As you’ll quickly realize, this story is complete crack and unapologetically self-indulgent. I’ve had a lot of fun writing this – probably too much fun. *g*

I’d like to give a big thanks to lukadreaming for the Brit-check beta.

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Although they had only been in the ARC for about an hour, Lester knew it was going to be a long day.

He couldn’t work. He couldn’t even walk around the ARC – not unaccompanied. Confined to Abby’s lab, he was bored, restless and frustrated.

Lester sprang out of his dog bed and performed another circuit of the room. Then he walked over to Abby and stared up at her. Unfortunately, Abby was peering through a microscope and didn’t seem to notice him. He stared some more, but Abby still wouldn’t look up from the microscope. Out of sheer desperation, Lester whined and poked Abby’s leg with his paw.

Abby glanced down at Lester. “Connor was right. We should have picked up some dog toys.”

This time, Lester applied his teeth to Abby’s leg and nipped it.

“Hey!” Abby said. “That was uncalled for!”

So was your remark about the dog toys. Lester skulked back to his bed, ignoring the bone once again and closing his eyes. He was just considering the merits of killing a couple of hours by taking a nap, when he heard the sound of Abby’s stool scraping across the floor.

“All right, you big baby, let’s go,” Abby said. “Maybe if you get some exercise, you’ll burn off that excess energy.”

Lester jumped up and headed straight for the door. Oh, good. A walk. Yes, a walk.

Thankfully, not everything at the ARC was concrete, metal or glass. The grounds of the ARC, limited as they were, had lots of grass and even trees. The grounds had seemed pretty mundane when Lester was human, but as a dog he found them fascinating. On yesterday’s walk, there had been so many different sights and smells. And squirrels. He liked squirrels a lot.

Lester brushed past Abby and sped towards the nearest exit.

“You’re supposed to run outdoors, not indoors!” Abby said, once she’d managed to catch up with Lester.

But squirrels. They’re out there. Lester gazed up at Abby sweetly and wagged his tail.

Abby snorted. “Does looking cute and doggy-eyed get you ahead in Whitehall?” she asked.

Surprisingly, no. Lester started pawing at the door.

“Yeah, okay. Out you go.” Abby shoved open the door, and Lester sprinted across the car park. “Watch for cars!” Abby shouted as she trailed after Lester.

Lester had just reached the grass, when his ears pricked up. He could hear noise off to his left. It sounded like voices. Lester followed the voices and quickly discovered that it was a group of Becker’s men. They were gathered in what roughly resembled a circle and were tossing a frisbee. When Lester was about 15 metres away, the frisbee flew past the person who was supposed to catch it and soared towards him.

Without realizing what he was doing, Lester launched himself into the air and caught the frisbee with his teeth. Not sure what to do next, Lester stood with the frisbee in his mouth, completely dumbfounded. Then Abby was running up to him, laughing.

“Well, give it back,” Abby said.

Oh, right. Lester headed over to the group of soldiers, who were already making their way towards him.

“Great catch.” A corporal, whose name Lester couldn’t remember, took the frisbee from him. “Is this your dog?” he asked Abby.

Abby shook her head. “No, I’m just looking after him…sort of.”

The corporal crouched down to pet Lester’s head. “What’s his name?”

Abby hesitated a moment then said, “It’s Lester.”

The corporal stared at Abby. “You’re kidding.”

Abby sighed. “It’s an in-joke.”

The corporal grinned. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Abby studied the frisbee in the corporal’s hands. “So, is this some kind of training exercise?”

The corporal blushed. “Uh, not exactly.” He glanced over his shoulder almost nervously. “Don’t tell Lester – human Lester, that is.”

Abby smiled and ruffled Lester’s fur. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Hey, Davies, flirt on your own time,” one of the soldiers said.

Oh, because you’re being paid to throw a frisbee, Lester thought. Nevertheless, he yanked the frisbee from Davies’ hands and delivered it to the other soldier.

The soldier leaned down to pet Lester as he accepted the frisbee. “Good boy! You still want to play, don’t you?”

Well, unless you’ve got a beautiful Irish Setter hidden away somewhere, frisbee is probably the best offer I’m likely to receive. The solider backed up a few metres, raising the frisbee.

Lester twitched in excitement, his tail wagging.

“Fetch!” the soldier cried, throwing the frisbee.


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When the alert had sounded, Lester knew he shouldn’t have been surprised. As there had been no new anomalies in over a week, it was only a matter of time before one cropped up somewhere. All the same, the alert had taken him by surprise. He had been so preoccupied with his own dilemma that he’d almost forgotten that anomalies existed.

Jolted from his nap by the blaring alarm, Lester followed Abby as she rushed out the door. Abby didn’t realize Lester was following her until they’d almost reached the garage. When she did notice him, she stopped in her tracks.

“Hey,” Abby said, “since when do you leave the ARC when there’s an anomaly alert?”

Since I lost the ability to work behind a desk, Lester thought, though he knew that wasn’t true. He had gone with Abby because he hadn’t wanted her to leave him. It wasn’t so much that he was afraid to be alone, but that he didn’t want to be separated from her. Lester knew he should be horrified by this knowledge and, yet, somehow, it didn’t seem strange.

Abby was studying Lester with the same intense look she always seemed to have when she was trying to work out what he was thinking, but, then, her expression changed to one of comprehension and it was obvious she understood.

“You stay in the car, okay?” Abby said.

Lester barked once and eagerly led the way to the garage.

“What’s he doing here?” Danny demanded as soon as he saw Lester.

Abby bit her lip. “He wanted to come and…Well, I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to leave him here on his own.”

“But it’s a good idea to bring him along while we hunt down dinosaurs?” Danny asked.

“He promised to stay in the car,” Abby said.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s great ’cause it’s not as if a dinosaur has ever thrown a car in the air or stamped on it!”

Abby crossed her arms. “What was I supposed to do, Danny? Lock him in my lab? What if Helen’s twin showed up? Helen has sneaked into the ARC before. I’m sure she could do it again – whether she’s the same person or not.”

Danny sighed. “If he has to come then he sticks with us. We’re not leaving him in the car.” He crouched down in front of Lester and looked directly into his eyes. “And if I tell you to run, you run as fast as your little doggy legs will carry you.”

Abby snorted. “With his ‘little doggy legs,’ he could outrun any of us – easily.”

“Well, that’s great,” Danny said. “I’m glad to hear it.” He cleared his throat and rose from his haunches. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” Abby asked as she and Lester followed Danny to one of the ARC vehicles.

“Chesham Bois Wood,” Danny said.

Oh, hell, Lester thought. Chesham Bois Wood was only about 20 miles from his house. He definitely wasn’t happy about an anomaly opening that close to Joanna and the kids. He hoped they could close the anomaly before anything could escape from it.

“Lester, are you coming or not?” Danny had turned to glance back at Lester, who hadn’t realized he’d stopped. Knowing that Danny was looking for an excuse to leave him behind, Lester quickly started moving again. He sped past Danny and jumped through the open door of one of the SUVs, landing beside Connor.

“Hi,” Connor said. “I didn’t realize you were coming.”

Lester barked once and stared back at Connor, as if daring him to object.

Connor lifted his hands placatingly. “Hey, I think it’s great. We might need that nose of yours.”

My nose?

Connor nodded as if Lester had spoken aloud. “German shepherds are brilliant trackers. Police use them to sniff out drugs, and search and rescue teams take German shepherds to disaster areas to find people trapped in rubble. Their sense of smell is that good.”

Lester felt his tail wag. Yes, he liked that idea. It would be nice to be useful. All of this inactivity was driving him mad.

Connor beamed when he saw Lester’s tail and gave him a quick pat on the head.

“Hey, shove over,” Abby said as she climbed into the back of the car. Lester moved to the middle seat, watching Connor pull his laptop out of his bag. Connor brought up a website with a map of Chesham Bois Wood, and Lester craned his neck to see the screen.

“We detected the anomaly, here, in Great Bois Wood,” Connor said, pointing to one of the smaller woods that made up Chesham Bois Wood. “Hmm…parking could be a problem. I’m not sure if there’s a car park. We might have to find a lay-by or park at a pub.”

Lester barked twice and placed a paw on the far right side of the screen.

“What are you trying to show me?” Connor asked. “I can’t see. Your paw’s in the way.”

The alphabet blocks were back at the ARC, but Lester had something just as good – assuming his big paw didn’t get in the way. Fortunately, Connor anticipated Lester’s needs and opened up Notepad. It was a challenge typing with the one paw, but Lester managed with a bit of patience and a lot of concentration.

manor rd

Connor’s forehead creased. “What about it? Is there parking there?”

Lester barked once and typed again.

car park at pool

“Cheers,” Connor said. He thumped the back of the driver’s seat. “Danny, we should head to Manor Road. Lester says there’s a car park.”

Danny glanced at Connor and Lester in the rear-view mirror. “That should save us some time.” His eyes shifted to Sarah, who was sitting next to him. “Can you phone Becker and let him know?”


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